Click on pictures to see larger image / Back
 |
JOHN AS THE HERMIT John was very clear about the symbols that are important to him, and about his identification as a hermit with a touch of magic in him. The symbols he chose tell of his strong spiritual orientation to life. |
 |
KAY AS THE EMPRESS Kay had a lot of fun thinking about her goals and symbols
while planning this portrait with me. Her vision had me doing a great
deal of research and invention to assemble the final image. I worked
from a variety of photos of Kay herself, invented the chair based on
one which inspired me, invented the landscape based on research into
the meaning of the landscape elements in the Empress card in the Tarot.
Her headdress, necklace and shield were similarly based upon Tarot symbolism,
while her gown and hairstyle were inspired by artwork of previous centuries.
While very Renaissance in the power of symbolism explored in this portrait,
it is modern in the inclusion of a computer and of Mt. Ranier which
are very much a part of her contemporary world. A footnote here: Kay
was hoping to buy a house with a view of the mountain. After we included
it in the portrait, she did! |
 |
MARY AND HER CAT Mary Ting's parents were comfortable and cooperative
with the idea of their daughter deciding for herself what was important
to her and how she wanted to be portrayed. The outfit she chose had
a wonder ful hat, and she requested that she also have both her basketball
and her cat with her. I developed her portrait from two photos of a
series taken in her yard -- one had the best pose, and the other showed
her best expression. The cat was actually leaping out of her arms in
the photo I used for her pose, and I assembled the likeness of the cat
from other photos I took of the cat alone after he calmed down from
the excitement. |
 |
RICHARD WETHERILL This portrait of Richard Wetherill was commissioned
posthumously by a group of people who are students of his ethical teachings.
There were no existing photographic portraits of him except as a young
man. For reference, I was given several assorted snapshots taken by
different people at different times, so the poses, lighting and focus
were all quite different. There was only one that was enough of a close-up
to be used for his face, another showed his full body, but the chair
was awkward and distracting. In another the setting was good, but he
faced the wrong direction. Due to the extreme dissimilarities of the
various photos, I decided to scan them into my computer and then I resized,
flopped and cut-and-pasted in Photoshop until I had assembled a single
coherent image of Mr. Wetherill I could refer to as I painted. I had
a friend pose on a borrowed chair in a more up-to-date suit, and included
this in my computer "sketch". One of the women who knew Mr. Wetherill
cried at seeing his likeness in the finished portrait, so I was gratified
that I had captured something of this great man. |
Last update May 2008